


Battered Heart

by TheSoleWookieCourier



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-12
Updated: 2019-11-11
Packaged: 2021-01-29 03:08:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21403180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSoleWookieCourier/pseuds/TheSoleWookieCourier
Summary: Piper and Sole finally breach that unspoken thing after a near-death experience
Relationships: Male Sole Survivor/Piper Wright
Comments: 2
Kudos: 36





	1. Part 1

Night was here, and Nate had yet to make it back to Sanctuary. While this was not all that uncommon, Piper couldn’t quite shake the inexplicable sense of dread that was settling somewhere around the small of her back. Preston, thankfully, had given her space. The Minuteman had seen the look in her eye when he came to check on her, and Piper has seen her feeling of dread mirrored in the worry lines on the soldier’s face.   


_“Where is he?”_ reverberated through her mind like a thousand cymbals crashing all at once. The darkness outside the watchtower seemed to mock her, swallowing the light produced by the refurbished streetlights and hiding everything in the shadows. Piper paced back and forth, making sure to check all directions of the compass to make sure she didn’t miss Nate coming in from any direction.   


“I’ve been on the radio with Starlight and some of the other surrounding settlements. I’ve got men and women looking out for him.” Preston’s quiet voice cut through the percussion of Piper’s thoughts, startling her briefly. She whirled around, her hand instinctively darting down to her pistol, ready to defend herself if needed. She saw Preston there, a bowl of steaming squirrel stew in his hands and a blanket thrown over his shoulders. Dogmeat was at his side, panting with a playful look in his eye.   


“Easy there,” Preston chuckled, seeing Piper’s reaction to being surprised. “That being said, It’s nice to see we’ve got someone with good hands on the tower right now.” He set the stew on the guard stool, then motioned to Piper to sit on the ground. After a second of hesitation, she relented and sat down, her back resting against the railing of the tower. Preston draped the blanket over her, then handed her the stew, while Dogmeat came and laid down next to her, resting his head on her lap. It was only then did Piper realize how cold, tired, and hungry she was. She attacked the meal with a ferocity, occasionally picking pieces of squirrel out of the stew for Dogmeat, who wolfed it down happily.   


“I also got in touch with Danse on the Prydwen. I’d say if he had his way, he would’ve had the entire contingent of vertibirds sweeping the Commonwealth for the General, but he was only able to secure one. He said he would personally accompany the Brotherhood search party.” Preston said, equal parts stress, admiration and exhaustion mixing in his voice. Piper looked up from her meal. Preston’s face looked like he had aged 15 years, exhaustion and worry etched deep into his face as his eyes scanned the horizon for his commander and friend. Dogmeat whimpered softly from Piper’s lap.   


“Thank you, Preston.” Piper replied, noticing her own exhaustion in her voice. “I know Nate can handle himself, but this time... something feels... off.” She closed her eyes, and leaned back, feeling the worn wood of the tower press against her head. She absentmindedly pet Dogmeat, which the German Shepherd seemed to appreciate. A tired sigh escaped her lips.   


“Get some shut-eye, Ms. Wright.” Preston advised. Piper’s eyes snapped back open and she started to sit up, a protest forming in her lips. “Don’t worry, you can stay here. I’ll keep an eye out.” Preston said gently, looking her dead in the eye as she tried to protest. Dogmeat, suddenly excised from Piper’s lap, sat up, trying to get out of the reporter’s way. One look from Preston, and Piper knew it was useless to resist. She sat back down, and pulled the blanket back over her.   


“Okay, Preston. But you better wake me up as soon as you see him.” Piper said, half cross, half sleepily as the exhaustion overtook her.   



	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper and Sole finally breach that unspoken thing after a near-death experience

Piper slept fitfully, her mind preoccupied with images of Nate being trapped by raiders, cornered by the robots claiming to be from The Mechanist that had recently started harassing settlements, being tossed about by a pack of deathclaws... She wasn’t sure what woke her first: Dogmeat barking excitedly or the resounding metallic crash that was accompanied by watchtower being shaken from it’s foundation. She sat upright instantly, initially dazed as she was not waking up in her and Nate’s bed. Suddenly, as her mind connected the dots of where she was where she was, the dread came flooding through her like the Hoover Dam had burst. She got to her feet and flew down the stairs of the watchtower, down through the house and out to the carport. As she opened the door, she was greeted with another loud crash and the sight of Nate in his power armor tumbling to the ground.   


“BLUE!” She screamed, her voice filled with horror as Nate vainly struggled to stand up, only getting up on one knee, his body seemingly unable to give the servos of the suit the direction they needed. But this wasn’t right... Nate purposefully left any of his crafting and repair work at the Red Rocket... Some Old World notion of “keeping work and home separate”. It was at the point that Piper truly realized how bad the situation truly was.   


Nate’s X-01 armor, which he jokingly told Piper was his one true wasteland love, was completely destroyed. A jagged slash had torn away most of the helmet from his right temple down to his mouth, revealing his bruised and dirty face underneath. The left eye headlamp flickered on and off, casting red light from the tactical light towards the floor. What was left of the helmet was so dented and scratched that Piper could barely tell that it was the remains of an X-01 helmet.   


As Piper dropped to her knees in front of Nate, she could see more of the damage. The entire left arm of the suit was gone, including the frame, taking Nate’s sleeve with it and leaving his arm soaked and covered in blood. The chest piece was marred with three deep gouges that had punctured the armor down to the frame running diagonally from the left shoulder to the right hip. On top of the gouges, the armor was heavily dented, almost to the point that Piper was unsure if they were going to be able to get the armor off. Piper began struggling with the helmet’s latching system. The heavy right hand of the suit batted her hands away as Nate lifted his head to lock eyes with Piper.   


“Get... Danse and... Codsworth.” Nate rasped, his voice has his, half the modulated voice from the helmet’s vocal encoders. “Danse... best damn... armor smith... I trust...” he paused and hung his head, his body heaving with wracking coughs. He spat, spraying blood over the floor and Piper. Piper nodded, and began standing up to go and find someone, anyone to help.   


“Stay put, Ms. Wright.” came Preston’s voice from the doorway, his voice steely and firm. “I just finished radioing Danse and his search team, and Codsworth is about ready to toss me bodily aside to get to Nate.” Piper looked up from Nate, trying to ignore the fresh wave of coughs that overtook him. Her eyes met with Preston’s.   


“I also took the liberty of getting Curie over here to triage him right here,” Preston continued. “He’s pretty banged up, and the quicker we get her...”

Preston was interrupted as he was pushed aside by two bodies, one flesh and blood, the other metal.   


“Oh,  _ mon dieu _ ! Wat ‘as ‘appended?!” came the cry from Curie.   


“Sir!” Codsworth gasped. Nate chuckled weakly, a sick, humorless sound that was still half human and half electronic.   


“Honestly, guys, this looks a lot worse than what it is.” He joked, followed by another bout of coughing. “Let’s not make such a big deal out of it.”   


“ _ Monsieur _ , I may be relatively new to de expression of humor, but I fear that this is not the time, nor the place! We must get you out of zat armor, or your wounds could become fatal!” Curie chided, dropping down next to Piper to inspect the Sole Survivor. With deft hands, Curie removed the destroyed helmet and tossed it aside with a clang.    


The full extent of Nate’s facial injuries were now out in the open. Bruises covered his face, with his left eye blackened and swollen shut. A gash followed along where the helmet had been destroyed, red and angry blood oozing through dirt and grime on Nate’s face. His nose was swollen and looked a sickly mixture of mottled green and purple. Piper’s hands flew to her mouth, stifling the shock and horror that threatened to burst forth as a scream. The others in the area tried to do the same with varying degrees of success. Preston let out a gasp that sounded strangely like a goose being strangled, his face pale and gaunt with shock. Codsworth let out a startled “oh my” as Dogmeat whimpered, his ears flat swept back, tail between his legs. Curie, ever medically minded, was the only one who seemed to stifle any emotion.   


Reaching into her shirt pocket, Curie withdrew the small penlight stored there and began giving Nate a emergency check-up to the best of her ability. Once she had completed what work she could, she began to try to remove the armor. However, after several vain attempts to remove the twisted and damaged armor off what was left of the armor frame, Curie stood back.   


“Ze armor... I am afraid eet will take a knowledgeable armor smith’s assistance to fully extract Nate from ze armor.” Curie stated dejectedly. “I simply don’t know enough about ze nature of ze armor structure. ‘Owever, Nathan does not appear to ‘ave a concussion. I will ‘ave to make further diagnoses as we get him out of ze armor.”   


Preston was the first to recover. “So, in other words, we have to wait until Danse gets here so he can help direct us in removing the armor?” he asked, his voice carrying the fear all of the companions had on their mind: what if they weren’t fast enough?   



	3. Part 3

The minutes seemed to crawl like weeks while the small group waited for Paladin Danse to arrive. Codsworth and Curie busied themselves with cleaning and treating what wounds they could. Nate, for the most part, was silent save for the occasional bout of wet, wracking coughs. Soon, with the blood cleared off his face and the various cuts and slashes sutured, Piper had to admit the various wounds would add a certain ruggedness to Nate’s already handsome features. However, as time wore one, she couldn’t also shake the realization that Nate’s breath was getting short and shallow. He was still stuck in the hunched over position, both out of lack of energy to move and under Curie’s direction to not move Nate until they were able to get Danse’s help.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the sound of a vertibird overhead informed the group that the Brotherhood of Steel paladin had arrived. Piper, grateful for the excuse, a reason to step away from the carnage, left the carport to greet Danse.   


Unfortunately, a vertibird landing in the middle of the street in the middle of the night had alerted the rest of Sanctuary to the situation that had until now had been a private struggle. Curious settlers hesitantly approached the vertibird as Paladin Danse disembarked, flanked by two Brotherhood knights. With a nod, Danse dismissed the knights and removed his helmet as he approached Piper. The knights, much to Piper’s relief, started to form a perimeter to keep the approaching citizens away, their helmet spotlights on. The lights bathed the approaching settler’s faces, highlighting the curiosity of each individual.   


“Where is he?” Danse asked, his speech cutting straight to the point. Wordlessly, Piper gestured towards the carport. Danse, equally wordlessly, nodded again and started walking towards the carport, his armored footsteps thumping against the ancient pavement. He paused for a second, then sympathetically placed his armored left hand on Piper’s shoulder.   


“He’ll be alright, Piper. I promise.” Danse intoned, his voice soft and warm. And with that, he resumed his march to the carport. Piper followed him, her silhouette looking even smaller than normal to the still gawking settlers against the armored hulk of the Paladin.

But now there was a new problem. The carport, already cramped with one suit of power armor and three companions, was now too small for 2 armored beings and four companions.   


“Paladin, thank you for coming.” Preston called out, his voice relieved as he came out from under the carport. He offered his hand, which Danse shook briefly.   


“No worries, Garvey.” Danse replied. “I have my men stationed to form a perimeter to keep any would-be eavesdroppers out. “Now, down to business. What’s the current status of the situation?”   


Preston quickly informed the Paladin of the situation, which gave Piper a few moments t7o compose herself. As the two men wrapped up, she felt the worry and fear of the past few hours lift. She was brought back to reality with the sound of heavy footsteps approaching. Piper looked up in time to see Danse place himself in several feet in front of the carport. He then replaced his helmet, activating the headlamp. Then, strangely, he exited his armor. Piper knew that there was a man inside the armored shell, but it was strange to see him outside of it. It reminded Piper of the Old World hermit crabs she had read about in an old book long ago. Still curious, she followed Danse inside. Preston hung back, staying by the entrance of the carport as the paladin crouched down to be at eye level with the Sole Survivor.   


“I’m going to give you guys some space to work. I’ll inform the other settlements keeping an eye out for Nate that we’ve found him and that we’re taking care of him.” Preston informed the reminder of the group. The Minuteman took one long last look before turning and purposefully striding towards the shelter where the settlement beacon and ham radio were located.   


Danse took charge after making his own personal assessment of the situation. “Alright. Our first order of business is to remove the fusion core from the armor. That will make sure we don’t unintentionally fry ourselves dealing with the electrical systems. But… this gives us another problem. With the fusion core removed, and with Nathan’s current condition, the armor will be extremely difficult to move. Thankfully, we have Codsworth to help us lift and maneuver Nathan around.” He looked up, making eye contact with each of the remaining companions as he continued. “Codsworth. You will be helping with moving Nathan around, as well as using your saw to help cut the armor apart.” Codsworth’s optic sensors bobbed quickly up and down once in a quick facsimile of a nod. “Curie,” Danse continued. “You are primarily tasked with attending to any of Nathan’s injuries as we uncover them. I want you to personally help me to remove the armor so you can take care of them quickly.”

“But of course.” Curie acknowledged. Danse then turned to Piper.

“Piper, I want you to simply comfort Nate. This probably won’t be very comfortable for him. We’ll need him to remain conscious so he can help alert us to when there are problems.” the paladin concluded. Slowly, Piper nodded.

With every companion knowing their job, Danse reached his hands up to remove the fusion core from its mount. It was at this point that Piper realized that most of the bracket for the fusion core had been shorn away, leaving the power source fairly exposed. With a forceful tug, Danse pulled the fusion core from the suit. With the fusion core removed, the armor seemed to stiffen, with no more power flowing through it’s electrical veins to move it’s remaining joints.

“Alright, Codsworth: grab him by the collar of the armor. We need to hoist him and get him on his back; that way we can more easily cut him out and treat him.” Danse barked. The Mr. Handy robot quickly followed the given order, remaining uncharacteristically silent. He quickly clamped on to what was left of the neck guard and began to lift, arm servos whirring and straining with the effort. After several seconds, Nate’s torso had only risen a small distance from its original position.

“Come on, Codsworth! Give it a little more muscle!” Danse yelled, trying to get the robot to lift more.

“Paladin Danse, sir, I am trying to do my best to not hurt my master more than he already is.” Codsworth replied, his voice smarmy and sarcastic as his exterior eyes swiveled to bore into the paladin’s. “Unless you want me to pour more into my thruster and add third-degree burns to the master’s neck and back, I will do no such thing!” The paladin backed down, knowing that the 200-plus year-old robot had only the best intentions for his friend.

Piper was unable to take the pressure of the situation, dropped to her knees, her eyes inches from the Sole Survivor’s. “Come on, Blue,” she said, her voice soft as she ran her fingers across the bruises and stitches on his face. “You’ve gotta get up. You’ve just gotta.”

Nate’s good eye opened, his gaze latching onto Piper’s. Time seemed to freeze for Piper in that moment as the two held each other’s gaze. Here was the man she cared for so much, battered and bruised. Yet, Piper knew in that moment that everything was going to be with alright.

With a growl that crescendoed into a roar, Nate pushed, his torso lifting from his bent knee. Codsworth, finding himself higher than what he was expecting, continued to pull on the armor collar, lifting Nate off of his feet ever so slightly. Grunting, and with some difficulty, Nate rotated his body enough to drop onto his rear., propping himself up his right elbow. Gasping, he then leaned back, lying down completely.

“Excellent work, soldier,” Danse praised as Codsworth relinquished his grip. “Now that you’re in this position, we can get to work.” Nate only nodded, his breath ragged. He raised his left hand weakly. Piper instinctively took it in both of her hands, surprised by how firm Nate’s grip was.

“Don’t… go. Stay… here.” came the whisper from his lips, his head tilted towards her. His good eye met piper’s gaze through a half-closed lid. Even through that, Piper could feel the intensity of his gaze.

“I won’t.”


	4. Part 4

The companions labored to remove the armor. As Nate fought to remain conscious, they toiled. The first piece of armor removed was the chestplate. The gouges in it did go down all the way to the skin as feared. This left three gaping furrows in Nate’s chest. As Curie began to check these and further complete a physical checkup, Danse and Codsworth worked on removing the legs. Up until this point, no one had paid too much attention to the damage done to Nate’s lower extremities. The right leg had been destroyed down to the frame, with the lower leg taking extreme damage. The left leg was fairly intact, though the knee plate and half of the thigh armor had been destroyed.

“I can detect no signs of internal bleeding, nor any signs or organ damage. I do believe zat several ribs ‘ave been broken, as well as ze left collar bone. But I am afraid over ze amount of blood zat ‘as been lost. I will begin treatment immediately.” Curie called out.

“Thats good.” came Paladin Danse’s gruff reply. “All of that can heal with proper treatment, unlike a corpse.” To this response, Curie rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath as she continued to keep working on the Sole Survivor.

Meanwhile, Piper fervently clung to Nate’s hand as the work continued, her mind far away from the din of Codsworth’s saw and the sound of metal being tossed aside. She had come so close to losing Nate, and she didn’t know how to feel about that. Things between her and Nate had always been… different. She had known that from the start, from the first time he had wandered into Diamond City and had helped her get back to her sister. They had had their fair share of nights together, wild, passionate nights, but neither had been willing to admit that this was something special, that there was something else beyond the sex. Piper supposed that this was because Nate was still grieving Nora, that he was still trying to heal on some psychological level.

But now it was all different. Something had changed within Piper. She knew that no matter what happened from here, she wanted Nate by her side.

The other companions, thankfully, left the reporter to her thoughts As Piper was lost in her thoughts, several nasty wounds reared their heads; a right leg broken in two places, a broken left wrist, several worrying cuts, and a plethora of bruises. The right arm of the armor proved to be fairly difficult to remove, as it had practically crumpled around Nate’s arm. soon, however, enough of the armor had been cut away to allow the owner’s extraction. 

As the work was completed, Nate was gently lifted by Danse and Preston on to a gurney, then wheeled to Brotherhood vertibird. It was decided that Curie and Danse would accompany Nate to the Prydwen, where Brotherhood of Steel medics had access to far better medical equipment.

It tore Piper apart to see and unconscious Nate loaded into the vertibird. Daylight had started to peek over the horizon, casting a pink and gold tone over the quiet settlement. As the vertibird lifted off and disappeared into the sunrise, it took all of Piper’s remaining strength to remain standing, to not collapse in the middle of the street sobbing.

Preston, who was silently standing by her side, wrapped his arm around her and led her back to the house. As she clambered in the bed that she and Nate had begun sharing, she soon felt the exhaustion of the events that had transpired overtake her, and she fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.


	5. Part 5

The next few days passed agonizingly slow for Piper. Preston communicated with the Prydwen on a daily basis, hoping for some new news on Nate’s condition, but so far there hadn’t been too much change. Piper tried to keep herself busy, tried to do chores around the house, to write, to do anything to get her mind off of that night. But everything she did reminded her of Nate. His scent lingered in the house. She couldn’t write because she remembered when he had seen the typewriter and plenty of tape in one of the pre-War bunkers and had insisted on hauling it back here to the house. Hell, even his boots, caked in mud from trying to make something grown in the planters out back, carelessly tossed by the side door, one of her pet peeves, made her miss him even more.

After a week, Preston burst into the house for his daily update with a huge grin on his face.

“Pack your things. Paladin Danse is sending a vertibird! It will be here within the hour for you!” He said jubilantly. “The General woke up last night and has been asking for you non-stop since then!” Piper noticed that all of the worry that had been weighing on Preston’s shoulders was gone, as he stood a little straighter. The lines on his face, caused by a life in the wasteland and etched even deeper the last week, seemed to almost disappear under the sheer pleasure on his face from the good news.

Piper stood there in shock, not trusting her sense of hearing. She had slept fitfully the last night, and couldn’t be sure she heard what she thought she did. As Preston’s words reverberated through her head, Piper then realized that she, in fact, had heard the phrase she had been praying to hear.

With the fury of a madwoman, Piper turned on her heel and tore into the bedroom, haphazardly throwing clothes into one of the dilapidated suitcases she had scavenged. Before she knew it, she was in the vertibird, speeding from sanctuary off the the floating steel behemoth that was the Prydwen. Piper hardly heard a word that the pilot, some faceless Brotherhood Scribe, said to her as the vertibird blazed through the sky.

Paladin Danse was waiting on the flight deck to great the half-crazed reporter. “Ms. Wright! Welcome to the Prydwen!” He called out over the noise of the dying rotors. He offered a hand, which Piper hesitantly took. The feeling of the cool metal of the paladin’s armored gauntlet instantly gave Piper flashbacks to feeling Nate’s destroyed armor, the crumpled titanium cool in sharp contrast to the blood seeping from his wounds… Piper shook herself mentally, trying to combat the dark thoughts as she disembarked from the flying craft.

As the the two wound their way through the belly of the Prydwen, Danse informed Piper of the situation. “Nathan’s more serious wounds will keep him out of any active duty for at least a month, possibly longer. He’s very lucky, ma’am.”

When they came to the entrance to the medical clinic, Knight-Captain Cade exited the bay, stopping the two just outside the door. “Welcome, Ms. Wright.” he said, giving her a Brotherhood salute, repeating the gesture for Danse. “I am glad you could join us. As I’m sure Paladin Danse explained to you on your way here to the clinic, Nathan is a very lucky man indeed. I have no doubt that his quick thinking in summoning Paladin Danse to help with the removal of the destroyed armor, as well as the excellent work of Sanctuary’s physician, saved his life. That being said, he while he is in stable condition, I will emphasize that it is in critical, but stable condition. For this reason, Elder Maxson, Paladin Danse, and myself have deemed that our best course of action is to keep Nathan on the Prydwen until he is completely healed.”

Before Piper could protest, Cade raised his hands to try and calm her. “I know that this isn’t exactly what you wanted to hear, but hear me out: the Brotherhood has the most advanced medical resources here in the Commonwealth. Even you can’t ignore it. So, in this very… unique case, Elder Maxson has given the go-ahead to allow you to stay here on the Prydwen until Nathan is discharged. Based on his insistence for your presence, I assume that you and Nathan have some… rapport with each other.” Piper’s face flushed with Cade’s comment.

“Th-thank you, Knight-Captain.” Piper blustered, still slightly embarrassed. “I do appreciate all that you have done for Nathan, for all of us. He does mean a lot to us at Sanctuary. I… we, don’t know what we would do without him.” Cade smiled and nodded slightly.

“Now, why don’t you go in and see him? He has been asking for you non-stop for the past few hours.” Cade asked with a kind smile, motioning for Piper to enter the clinic. “I’ll give you two some privacy.” And with that, Cade and Danse saluted Piper and went their separate ways; Danse to the power armor bay, Cade to the cafeteria.

Suddenly alone, Piper felt nervous. Why? There was no reason to; it was just Nate. Someone she had spent her countless hours with alone before. So why was this any different? Taking a deep breath, she entered the clinic.

***

Nate was lying in a hospital bed, the head slightly raised. He was mostly naked, with a blanket covering his left leg. His right leg was in a splint that looked suspiciously like a modified power armor frame. His face was still a motley collection of bruises and cuts, with the bruises faded to sick pale green color. The stitches that had been placed in his face had been changed, with a little more precision. His left arm was in a cast that extended from his hand up to his bicep, locking his arm in a 90 degree angle. The casted arm was lying on his chest in a sling, immobilizing his arm. The wounds on his chest had been stitched closed, leaving three ridges where there had been three gouges. A random collection of bruises covered his body, along with an eclectic collection of sutures. An IV bag hung from a rack with a blood pack companion, both feeding into a vein in his right arm. An array of sensors ran from different parts of Nate’s body to a terminal, constantly updating diagnostic records. He appeared to be sleeping, his breathing deep and even, head lolled to one side.

Piper approached the bed hesitantly, taking soft steps as to not disturb the sleeping man. Luckily, there was a chair right by the bedside, and she sank into it. After a few minutes, she cautiously reached out her hand to tenderly touch Nate’s face. Bruised and cut as it was, it was still his face, which brought Piper a huge sense of relief. She kept her hand on his face, stroking his cheek tenderly.

“Took you long enough to get here.” Nate spoke suddenly, startling Piper. His eyes opened as a wry grin broke across his face.

“Nate.” Piper breathed, suddenly fighting tears of joy. Nate’s grin grew wider.

“Oh, now we’re on first name basis?” He laughed, propping himself up on his good elbow. “What are you doing down there? Get up here.” He patted the bed, indicating for Piper to join him on the bed.

Piper stood up slowly as Nate slid over as much as he could. Cautiously, Piper perched on the edge of the bed with her back to Nate. She didn’t want him to see the tears that she had been fighting streaming down her face. A sob escaped her lips.

“Hey… what’s wrong?” Nate asked softly, his good hand stroking Piper’s back. Piper turned and threw herself on top of him, her arms wrapping desperately around his neck. She buried her head into his chest, spilling her tears onto his chest. Nate wrapped his right arm around her, pulling her close.

“I thought… I mean… I was afraid… terrified… didn’t want to lose you… wanted to tell you… couldn’t let you go… didn’t know how…” She gasped between sobs. Nate resumed rubbing her back, trying his best to comfort her.

“Hey, it’s alright. I’m here. Just let it out.” he murmured. The two of them sat there, curled up together as Piper’s sobs filled the room. Eventually, the crying subsided, leaving them in silence. Nate spoke first.

“Piper… there’s something I need to tell you…” He began. Piper took a shuddering breath and raised her head, eyes red and puffy from crying.

“Blue, it can wait. I don’t want to know what happened yet.” she sniffed, wiping her eyes.

“Piper, that’s not it.” Nate said, pulling Piper’s hands away from her face and taking her right one in his hand. His eyes bored into hers with such intensity that it took her breath away. Nate continued, his voice stony and serious.

“After what… happened, and I was trying to haul my sorry injured ass back to Sanctuary, there were two things on my mind. One was telling myself that I was not going to bleed out somewhere before I found Shaun. The other thought I had was that if I died, I would die without you knowing how I feel about you.” Nate took a breath as Piper’s caught in her chest.

“Piper, I love you. These last few months of being in this new world have… challenging. I never expected to find myself over 200 years in the future, searching the ruins of my world for my son. I never expected to see the things I’ve seen, fought the fights I’ve fought. War never changes. But another thing that hasn’t changed? You being right by my side, through the good and bad. I don’t want anyone else by my side for as long as I live, no matter how long that is.”

Piper was shocked. Nate felt the same way she did? Without thinking, she launched herself to him, her lips locking with his in a passionate kiss. After a few eternal seconds, they broke apart, both breathless.

“So… I take it you feel the same?” Nate asked, a goofy grin on his face.

“Yes. A thousand times yes. It hit me really hard when they took you so far from me. I couldn't do anything without thinking about you, about how I might not be able to tell you how I feel. And you said it perfectly; I want you, forever.” Piper replied, the words spilling from her lips.

“Awesome.” Nate replied, pulling her in for another kiss, another kiss that was just as good as the first one.


	6. Part 6

The next few weeks were a mixture of tedium and adventure. Piper spent every moment she could by Nate’s side. Soon, Nate was cleared to be off bedrest, and was given permission to start walking around the main decks of the Prydwen. Nate took to it with much gusto, even though his pace was slow. Piper suspected that he enjoyed it so much because he would hold her hand for stability, not that she was complaining. Jealous looks were always cast their way as they went on their walks, scribes and knights muttering under their breaths about the fraternization rules.

One night, as they lay together in the clinic bed, Piper finally found enough courage to as the question that had been nagging at the back of her mind.

“Hey, Blue…” she started softly, her hand tracing the new scars on Nate’s chest that had formed from the stitches. “What… what exactly happened that night?”

Nate, who had been absently running his fingers through Piper’s hair, tensed slightly at the question. He coughed, bringing his still-casted left arm to brush his face. He sighed, then began to speak, voice hushed.

“I was working a case in Diamond City with Nick. I had had a couple parts for the armor on order from Percy, so I was there in my armor already. We picked up the parts, and went out to work on a case. Some settler had their shit stolen, so we tracked it down to just outside the old Boston Public Library. Turns out that the settler was a fucking Gunner in disguise. Walked us straight into a trap laid by his little Gunner buddies. After we’d wiped out our nasty little surprise, I needed to do some repair work.

“As I was working on the armor, I picked up a radio beacon from the Brotherhood. Proctor Quinlan picked up a recurring energy signature in the area of Mass Fusion Disposal Site that was either a dead match or very similar to the one we think is connected to the Institute, I don’t remember. Either way, I was close enough that I let them know I would check it out. So, I started to make my way there. Nick was a little hesitant to leave me to go on my own, but I was able to convince him to head back to Diamond City. Said something to the effect that Ellie needed him, that she was still worried about him after what happened with Malone.

“I ran into the normal things you see in the Wasteland… ghouls, radstags, the usual. But the closer I got to the supposed becapon, I started to notice that everything was dead quiet. I felt there was something watching me. Turns out that something was. I’d stopped to try and relax and check my surroundings when I got blindsided. Next thing I know, I’m being used as a hacky sack by three deathclaws.” Nate paused at Piper’s look of confusion. “Right. Explain hacky sack later. Either way, after a few hits, I was able to regain my footing and fight back as best as I could. From what I could tell, it was an alpha, a matriarch, and what I could guess was a young one.”

Piper shuddered. She had heard stories of deathclaw pack attacks, but had never seen the result of one up close. Nate, feeling her shudder, pulled her closer. Both of them sat there, each of them lost in their own thoughts. After the silence became almost unbearable, Nate cleared his throat.

“Anyways… enough about that.” He said, kissing Piper’s forehead. “Go get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”


	7. Part 7

The time soon came for Nate and Piper to return to Sanctuary. After much fussing from Proctor Quinlan, who had repeatedly apologized and confessed feelings of guilt for what had happened, and a final check from Knight-Captain Cade, Piper, Nate, and Paladin Danse were on board another vertibird. The ride was silent, despite each of them wearing headsets that muffled out the whirring of helicopter blades. The flight passed without incident, and soon the familiar outline of Sanctuary filled the passengers vision.

As soon as the vertibird’s landing wheels had fully made contact with the ground, Paladin Danse was the first to disembark. Turning, he reached out his hand to help Piper down. Once she was down, he turned again to assist Nate, who was still walking gingerly. Nate grasped a cane to support himself as the small group made their way towards the Sole Survivor’s former home.

With a happy and resounding bark, Dogmeat bolted from the doorway, tail wagging as he dashed towards Nate. He jumped up, front paws hitting Nate in the chest. Nate laughed as his face was covered in dog kisses.

“Hey there, boy. Who’s a good boy? Huh? Who’s a good boy?” Nate chuckled as pet the enthusiastic German Shepherd with his remaining hand. By this time, Codsworth, Curie, and Preston Garvey had all made their way to the group. Their voices mingled in their excitement to see their friend.

“Sir! Oh, it is so good to see you in one piece!” Codsworth called out, his modulated voice joyus.

“Eet is good to see zat de Brotherhood medical personnel could properly heal you, Nathan!” came Curie’s voice, her French accent becoming more pronounced in her excitement.

“Good to see you back here, General.” Preston said, his voice betraying the stress of the past few weeks. Nate laughed again as he pushed Dogmeat off of him.

“Hey, guys. Miss me?” Nate asked, a wide smile on his face. The rest of the group chuckled. “But on a serious note, I missed you guys. And I owe you guys my life.”


End file.
